Many people might not recognize this actor from his name, but once you see Mackenzie Astin on screen, you’ll get the “Aha!” response right away. Astin has had a long career in acting that started back in the 80s. Today, you can see him in his most recent shows, The Magicians and Scandal. Since finishing his recurring roles on TV, Astin has been busy with a couple of film productions that are set to come out this year or the next. Here are the 5 things you should know about Astin that you probably didn’t already.
Sean Astin’s half-brother
Everyone is probably more familiar with Mackenzie’s brother, Sean Astin. Sean has been in quite a number of more mainstream films. Sean has also been acting since he was a young child, and you might wonder why both brothers took to acting at such a young age. The common denominator in that equation are their parents, John Astin and Patty Duke, who also happened to be Hollywood actors in their prime. It simply runs in the family.
Started acting at 9 years old
Mackenzie Astin’s penchant for being in front of the camera came out when he was only 9. His first television show came out in 1982, and it was called Lou Gibbs and the Love Canal. Five years later, Mackenzie came out with his first movie, The Garbage Pail Kids Movie, which was a hit or miss for the most part. He acted on and off as a child, stopped at some point, then picked it back up again as an adult.
Evening Star accident
In 1996, Mackenzie was shooting film called Evening Star. During filming, he met a car accident where he lost part of his top right ear. For the rest of production time, Mackenzie has to be fitted with a prosthetic for his right ear, so that the rest of his shots after the accident matched those from before. If you look at pictures of Mackenzie now, you’ll notice the little notch on his ear.
Big Little Leaguer
When Mackenzie was little, he used to play in Little League regularly. However, as he started to act more regularly, he ended up missing more and more games up until he had to stop. The same happened with his schooling as well. Mackenzie was missing so much of his regular schoolwork that he ended up dropping out of school. When he decided to pick it up again in high school, he was relieved at the idea of being once again. He did a switch and ended up dropping acting to focus more on schooling.
Rehab Stint
Before Mac found his way back into the spotlight, he actually had a brief stint at rehab. He was so into his normal life, discovering things he never experienced when he was acting full time. Mackenzie learned about marijuana and got into the drug life enough to warrant a rehab stay. One stay was enough for him and he was grateful that it happened before he got too big in the media. Now he is more focused in his acting more than anything.
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